Palladium-Ceria Catalysts with Enhanced Alkaline Hydrogen Oxidation Activity for Anion Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

Anion exchange membrane fuel cells (AEMFCs) offer several important advantages with respect to proton exchange membrane fuel cells, including the possibility of avoiding the use of platinum catalysts to help overcome the high cost of fuel cell systems. Despite such potential benefits, the slow kinetics of the hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) in alkaline media and limitations in performance stability (because of the degradation of the anion conducting polymer electrolyte components) have generally impeded AEMFC development. Replacing Pt with an active but more sustainable HOR catalyst is a key objective. Herein, we report the synthesis of a Pd-CeO2/C catalyst with engineered Pd-to-CeO2 interfacial contact. The optimized Pd-CeO2 interfacial contact affords an increased HOR activity leading to >1.4 W cm-2 peak power densities in AEMFC tests. This is the only Pt-free HOR catalyst yet reported that matches state-of-the-art AEMFC power performances (>1 W cm-2). Density functional theory calculations suggest that the exceptional HOR activity is attributable to a weakening of the hydrogen binding energy through the interaction of Pd atoms with the oxygen atoms of CeO2. This interaction is facilitated by a structure that consists of oxidized Pd atoms coordinated by four CeO2 oxygen atoms, confirmed by X-ray absorption spectroscopy.